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Monroe Street project a waste

I congratulate the Spokane City Council. It takes a special kind of callousness to politicize the death of a 5-year-old girl for more government funding. At least the money is going to a school, or children’s program, right? Nope.

The Spokesman-Review reported that the city is going to spend nearly $4 million to fix Monroe Street. That’s great, I recently saw a Land Rover disappear into one of the downtown craters. I’m thrilled they’re fixing the potholes. Except, they’re not.

The city’s taking a section of Monroe and making it two lanes. The purpose of this insanity is to make a safer street. Months, maybe years of construction on one of our main arterials for the purpose of clogging traffic is lunacy. Getting stuck behind buses will be a nightmare. Turning onto Monroe will be impossible. Nobody will use the new sidewalks; nobody uses the current ones.

The city claims this change will actually speed up the flow of traffic. Well, then why do we have four-lane roads? Let’s convert Division Street. Heck, Interstate 90 has way too many lanes. Maybe we should put in a sidewalk.

Can’t the city find something else to waste your money on?

Chris Reichert

Athol, Idaho

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